Which Democratic candidates will buck the leftward march during the primaries?

[Mr. Morden]

This is one of many stories about the 2020 Dems moving left:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/liberal-ideas-move-fringe-front-burner-democrats-n873516

Rhetorically at least, Booker, Gillibrand, and Harris now agree with Bernie Sanders on nearly every domestic issue.  If they all had a debate today, there'd be very little on which they disagreed.

Health care, guaranteed employment, free college, minimum wage, legalized pot, etc.  They're all reaching alignment on these issues.

OTOH, you also have a bunch of likely 2020 Democratic candidates (O'Malley, McAuliffe, Castro, Garcetti, etc.) who haven't matched the leftward march on all of these things, probably just because they're not in Congress, and so it's not expected for them to promote specific policy proposals like that (yet).  So will all of these other likely 2020 Dems agree with the Senators on the aforementioned issues once their formally declare their candidacy and have their own issue platforms, or will some of them buck the trend?  And who would buck the trend and on which issues?

I'm just wondering if there are going to be *any* 2020 Dems whose stated policy positions are closer to Clinton 2016 than Sanders 2016.

[Sirius_]

Biden for sure.

[Wisconsin SC Race 2019]

Like, deliberately? I think only Biden would dare.

[DevinM626]

Biden, Delaney, and McAuliffe.

I think Castro, Cuomo, and O'Malley would at least *pretend* to adopt Left-Wing positions, even though they'll absolutely govern as New Dems if they were to get elected.

[RINO Tom]

The dumb ones.

[Politician]

The dumb ones.

[Lord Admirale]

Joe Biden.

[here2view]

Biden, which is why I'm supporting him.

[Sirius_]

The dumb smart and electable ones.

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

Klobuchar is another fairly obvious one, in addition to Biden. The mayors, too, but they'll run on generic "getting things done," instead of specific policy platforms.

[Rookie Yinzer]

Biden, which is why I'm (not) supporting him.

[Mr. Morden]

The mayors, too, but they'll run on generic "getting things done," instead of specific policy platforms.

I mean, at some point they'll have to offer some policy specifics.  Otherwise, what will they say when asked about some of these things in debates?

"Should we have single payer health care?"  "Maybe"
"Should there be a federal jobs guarantee?"  "Maybe"
"Should marijuana be legalized?"  "Maybe"

You can dodge on some of this stuff, but you've got to have some specifics on *something*.

[The Mikado]

Proportionality really screws with everything. It's pretty clearly true that there's more room to the left in the Democratic primary than to the center, but if voters on the left are really divided between half a dozen names, one person towards the center could do disproportionately well with 25-30% of the vote, especially if that person has even the remotest crossover appeal to other groups. Alternately, more "centrist" Dems could play kingmaker between various different stripes of "Progressive," if, say, the primary comes down to Sanders v Gillibrand v Harris v Warren, all of whom are running to the "left" but mean different things by the "left.

[RINO Tom]

The dumb smart and electable ones.

Riiiiiiight, LOL.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Biden, which is why I'm supporting him.

[#gravelgang #lessiglad]

The mayors, too, but they'll run on generic "getting things done," instead of specific policy platforms.

I mean, at some point they'll have to offer some policy specifics.  Otherwise, what will they say when asked about some of these things in debates?

"Should we have single payer health care?"  "Maybe"
"Should there be a federal jobs guarantee?"  "Maybe"
"Should marijuana be legalized?"  "Maybe"

You can dodge on some of this stuff, but you've got to have some specifics on *something*.

See, I don't think they'll be that cagey with it, though. The only reason I brought it up is that the mayors will start out with a name recognition deficit and specific policy proposals early on will only serve to alienate someone. But if one of them is asked about e.g., a jobs guarantee, it'd lead itself to a natural answer of "Well when I was Mayor of [city], we were able to create [number of jobs] by working in coordination with our small businesses and by expanding [city service] and that's how I created jobs." Only once one of them breaks out will the specifics come.

[Sirius_]

The dumb smart and electable ones.

Riiiiiiight, LOL.

I don't remember the last time that alienating centrists got someone elected.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

The dumb smart and electable ones.

Riiiiiiight, LOL.

I don't remember the last time that alienating centrists got someone elected.

Reagan did pretty well. Granted, he was vs a pretty unpopular President.

Also tbf, the "center" isn't stagnant. It moves.

[YE]

The dumb smart and electable ones.

Riiiiiiight, LOL.

I don't remember the last time that alienating centrists got someone elected.

Reagan did pretty well. Granted, he was vs a pretty unpopular President.

Also tbf, the "center" isn't stagnant. It moves.

This. People need to understand that the "establishment" (often associated with the center) is what people despise in politics right now. This isn't 1992 anymore.

FWIW, I also think Joe Biden will go for the leftward march to some extent. It's not like the Obama administration he served under didn't move left in his second term.  I think a more reasonable answer to the question would be Klobuchar or Bullock.

[Holy Unifying Centrist]

The dumb smart and electable ones.

Riiiiiiight, LOL.

I don't remember the last time that alienating centrists got someone elected.

Reagan did pretty well. Granted, he was vs a pretty unpopular President.

Also tbf, the "center" isn't stagnant. It moves.

This. People need to understand that the "establishment" (often associated with the center) is what people despise in politics right now. This isn't 1992 anymore.

FWIW, I also think Joe Biden will go for the leftward march to some extent. It's not like the Obama administration he served under didn't move left in his second term.  I think a more reasonable answer to the question would be Klobuchar or Bullock.

Bullock is already more progressive than the establishment dems though

[Sirius_]

The dumb smart and electable ones.

Riiiiiiight, LOL.

I don't remember the last time that alienating centrists got someone elected.

Reagan did pretty well. Granted, he was vs a pretty unpopular President.

Also tbf, the "center" isn't stagnant. It moves.

This. People need to understand that the "establishment" (often associated with the center) is what people despise in politics right now. This isn't 1992 anymore.

FWIW, I also think Joe Biden will go for the leftward march to some extent. It's not like the Obama administration he served under didn't move left in his second term.  I think a more reasonable answer to the question would be Klobuchar or Bullock.

I don't see this anti-establishment movement being nearly as large as you guys are making it out to be. People voted for the political establishment over a crazy man in Alabama. They voted for an establishment candidate in PA-18. The extreme, anti-establishment candidates lost in both primaries for WV-SEN. None of the recent major victories for democrats have come from far left candidates and any anti-establishment movement that could've helped Trump seems to have died down amid his continuously low poll numbers and backlash from republicans. There is much more evidence to show that the anti-establishment and progressive movements are way overblown than there is indicating that they'll be permanent and election-deciding.

[Sherrod Brown Shill]

Klobuchar, McAullife, and Biden (If he runs, which I think is less likely then people think)

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

The dumb smart and electable ones.

Riiiiiiight, LOL.

I don't remember the last time that alienating centrists got someone elected.

Reagan did pretty well. Granted, he was vs a pretty unpopular President.

Also tbf, the "center" isn't stagnant. It moves.

This. People need to understand that the "establishment" (often associated with the center) is what people despise in politics right now. This isn't 1992 anymore.

FWIW, I also think Joe Biden will go for the leftward march to some extent. It's not like the Obama administration he served under didn't move left in his second term.  I think a more reasonable answer to the question would be Klobuchar or Bullock.

I don't see this anti-establishment movement being nearly as large as you guys are making it out to be. People voted for the political establishment over a crazy man in Alabama. They voted for an establishment candidate in PA-18. The extreme, anti-establishment candidates lost in both primaries for WV-SEN. None of the recent major victories for democrats have come from far left candidates and any anti-establishment movement that could've helped Trump seems to have died down amid his continuously low poll numbers and backlash from republicans. There is much more evidence to show that the anti-establishment and progressive movements are way overblown than there is indicating that they'll be permanent and election-deciding.

I absolutely agree. The views of Atlas do not reflect the USA as a whole.

[Progressive Pessimist]

The dumb smart and electable ones.

Riiiiiiight, LOL.

I don't remember the last time that alienating centrists got someone elected.

Reagan did pretty well. Granted, he was vs a pretty unpopular President.

Also tbf, the "center" isn't stagnant. It moves.

This. People need to understand that the "establishment" (often associated with the center) is what people despise in politics right now. This isn't 1992 anymore.

FWIW, I also think Joe Biden will go for the leftward march to some extent. It's not like the Obama administration he served under didn't move left in his second term.  I think a more reasonable answer to the question would be Klobuchar or Bullock.

I don't see this anti-establishment movement being nearly as large as you guys are making it out to be. People voted for the political establishment over a crazy man in Alabama. They voted for an establishment candidate in PA-18. The extreme, anti-establishment candidates lost in both primaries for WV-SEN. None of the recent major victories for democrats have come from far left candidates and any anti-establishment movement that could've helped Drumpf seems to have died down amid his continuously low poll numbers and backlash from republicans. There is much more evidence to show that the anti-establishment and progressive movements are way overblown than there is indicating that they'll be permanent and election-deciding.

Very true.

[Grassroots]

Biden.

Manchin might even be more conservative than Clinton, he still has a pretty good chance of winning.